Sunday, January 07, 2007

Busy Weekend Comes To A Close

Finally a chance to update the blog. It's been a busy weekend with two Bronco games and a "AAA" Legionnaires broadcast this afternoon at the Fairview West. The Battleford Stars picked up the 6-3 win to take both games of the weekend two-game set.

Last night it just wasn't in the cards for the Broncos who lost 6-2 to Regina. Although shots were even 36-36, goaltending was a factor in the Pats win. Travis Yonkman was given the hook 8 minutes in after surrendering the third Pats goal. Kyle Moir took over and made 26/29 saves in relief. Linden Rowat was also much better in the Pats goal than he was Friday night in that 9-0 loss.

Yonkman's struggles come at the absolute worst time. It makes it awfully tough to move Moir at the trade deadline Wednesday when you're not sure about your situation. It just wasn't this game for Yonkman, I didn't think he was very sharp against the Blades New Year's day either. At this point I would say it's 50/50 to see Moir being traded. That number isn't coming from the Broncos front office, is just my gut feeling on the situation.

Geordie Wudrick and Zack Smith scored for the Broncos in the loss who now have most of the week away from game action before beginning a three games in three night stretch in Lethbridge against the Hurricanes Friday.

Hopefully some line-up help will arrive. Daniel Rakos will be back from World Juniors. Kyle Bortis probably won't be ready to go with his ankle injury while Brady Leavold remains a question mark with illness. Derek Claffey should be ready to step back on the blueline after a bout with the flu.

Broncos 2nd round bantam pick in '05 James Martin made his Broncos debut last night. The 15 year-old defenseman saw a number of shifts and looked a bit over his head at times. Acting assistant coach Tim Tisdale called him "tentative" in the post-game show. Something he says is not good when you're a defenseman in the WHL. Martin, a Winnipeg native will be just fine. He has that look to him, you can just see that he will be a good one for the Broncos in years to come. He has a good attitude, a great kid and should grow even more before attending Broncos training camp next fall hoping to make the team as a 16 year-old.

Broncos Head Coach and General Manager Dean Chynoweth will be back in town tomorrow. I'm going to get a trade deadline preview for the radio sportscasts. I'll also post the transcript of our chat here too.

4 comments:

Joel
said...

I thought Moir traded was a sure thing, but you are right after Yonkmans last couple of outings, i feel the same 50/50. It should be interestion if Dean makes any moves at all now. I still think there will be 1 or 2 vets traded. Like I said earlier at times some of the vets are not stepping up and we have 16 and 17 year old controlling the game. Great situation to be in though.

Twitter @jonkeenNLsports

Jon Keen is the play-by-play voice for the Kamloops Blazers of the Western Hockey League and host of the "WHL This Week" Radio Show which is available at whl.ca.
After spending seven seasons as play-by-play broadcaster for the Swift Current Broncos, Jon headed west to call games for the Blazers for the start of the 2010-11 season on Radio NL
Jon has covered some major events in the sports world including NHL drafts in Ottawa (twice), Raleigh, NC, Vancouver and Columbus.